Unable to start game - service initialization failed. [SOLVED]

I downloaded and installed the sims 3 base game, pets, supernatural, and late night successfully about a month or two ago. I was able to play it for quite some time. However, I installed it on to my external hard drive. I removed my external so that I was able to take it to work with me, and the next time I replugged it into my computer the sims game no longer worked. The expansion pack icons have vanished, and the sims 3 game says "Unable to start game- service initialization failed." It may have been a poor choice on my part for installing on to an external, but is there any way to fix this? And if not fix, is there a way to reinstall game and keep previously saved games still intact? My only worry is that I'll lose countless of hours of building, playing, ect.

Hello,

What happens when you try to start the game via the launcher, do you get an error?

Try to get it to the same Drive Number also, like if it was F, and now is E, if you got a flash drive, reboot, put the flash drive in, and then put the external in.

If unsure what drive it was before, right-click on The Sims 3, and go to properties, about middle of the page is start in "drive-letter:\the sims 3" or something on that order if you did a custom install.

You saves will be in C:\Users\\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3, so you won't have a problem with finding that.

Solved that problem. It was downloaded onto Drive G, but because I removed and replugged in external it was reading Drive H, so I had to manually adjust it. Game opened up fine... said it needed to be updated, though, so I went ahead and downloaded update and installed it... now game says there is no disk inserted. Must need to go and add in new files?

krysm wrote:Solved that problem. It was downloaded onto Drive G, but because I removed and replugged in external it was reading Drive H, so I had to manually adjust it. Game opened up fine... said it needed to be updated, though, so I went ahead and downloaded update and installed it... now game says there is no disk inserted. Must need to go and add in new files?

Hello,

Please do step 2 to 4 to fix that error: www.games4theworld.forumotion.com/t1171-must-read-how-to-install-the-sims-3-correctly

Good luck!

I did all that. The launcher works fine now, but when I go to load the game it comes up a black screen and when I try to manually close windows by using ctrl+alt+delete a screen is in the background saying unable to start... i may have put the files in a wrong spot.. i have a file thats the sims (but called game for me) and theres a bin file in there, and i accidently put the crack files there...

It freezes up my computer. And says, Unable to start game, Service initialization failed.

0x024e424f

When I go through the launcher it says, Unable to connect to origin. When I click on the play button, it says No game disc found! Please insert the sims 3 pets game disc before proceeding.

When I click on desktop icon it says, Service initialization failed (0x0175dcbb).

The other code shows up when I go right to the file to open it up.

Hi I'm sort of having the same problem, I have all my games installed on an external hard drive and now the shortcuts to the game on my desktop are all white little files and for some reason it keeps telling me to reinstall the base game...Can you please help me?

Initially, I put the cracks in to this folder. The folder on my external is titled Game, instead of The Sims 3 (thanks to my husband).




After carefully rereading instructions and realizing I had been confused, I then put it in this folder... which might be the problem, I put the crack in to the two different folders, but don't know how to reverse that? Tried a system restore...

Hello,

If this is where you installed the base game... (directly into your G: drive, without creating separate folders for each game) where did you install you expansion(s) to?

The expansions each have their own folder in the G: drive.

... Which, I just looked and I only have the pets and supernatural expansions there, but also have Late night installed... so I checked the shortcut link for that from my desktop and it links to G:\Game\Game\Bin\Sims3Launcher.exe and the base game shortcut is G:\Game\Bin\Sims3Launcher.exe... so that explains why I have a folder titled Game inside the original Game folder.

Hello,

Oh, that's very messed up!
Do you mind sorting everything a little bit to prevent more problems?

If not, please do as follows (This will probably fix your main problem too):

*Backup your savegames!

1. Completely uninstall The Sims 3 and all expansions using Your Uninstaller! Pro, which you can download from www.games4theworld.org . Choose "Super" uninstall mode.
2. Restart your PC.
3. Reinstall the games following these instructions to the T: https://games4theworld.forumotion.com/t1171-must-read-how-to-install-the-sims-3-correctly and create a new, separate folder for each game! (E.g. "G:\Games\The Sims 3", "G:\Games\The Sims 3 Supernatural" and "G:\Games\Late Night")
4. Start the game and let us know the result.

Good luck!

I uninstalled everything. Re downloaded the base game plus expansions and installed everything. When trying to download the update/fix, it won't let me download either. If I save the fix file and then try to open it, it says it is corrupted.

Hello,

Use only WinRAR to open the Fix file, which is in .rar format.
You can download WinRAR from www.games4theworld.org . (Note: WinRAR and NOT WinZIP or 7-ZIP or any other program)

I was using winRAR, for whatever reason it showed up about 2 hours later lol.

Other then forgetting to save downloaded content, everything is good. All the games are working. I installed them onto my laptop hard drive instead of the external so as to eliminate any other further confusions if any problems arise.

Thanks for all the help

Hello there,

Ah well, that's another way of fixing things, I guess.
Enjoy the game again and please let us know if you need more assistance!